exotic atoms and nuclei

The Chunichi Cultural Prize

(May 3, 2009) Chunichi Newspaper Co. announced today that I will recieve the 62nd Chunichi Cultural Prize, for the study of antiprotonic helium atoms. Past recipients of this award include Koabyashi & Maskawa (2008 Nobel Prize in physics) and Noyori (2001 Nobel Prize in chemistry).

2008 Nishina Memorial Prize

(Novemver 13, 2008) Nishina Memorial Foundation announced today that I will receive the 2008 Nishina Memorial Prize, the most prestigious physics award in Japan, for the study of antiprotonic helium atoms. Read more about the news here.
The news also appeard in the headline story of TRIUMF (Canada), where I did most of my graduate studies, and in the home page of Nuclear Physics A, for which I work as a supervisory editor. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B and CERN Courier have also featured the news.
My friend and collaborator, Lodi-Rizzini, contributed an article to the Itaian Physical Society Journal "Il Nuovo Saggiatore".

Hayano Group focuses on the precision spectroscopy of exotic atoms and nuclei. In particular, we study
antiprotonic helium atoms,
antihydrogen atoms,
pionic atoms,
kaonic atoms
in detail, in order to reveal the origin of the proton mass (why proton is so much heavier than up and down quarks), to test the (possible lack of) symmetry between matter and antimatter (CPT), and to
measure (anti)proton-electron mass ratio, on of the important fundamental constants.

These experiments can only be done at accelerator facilities:

Antiprotonic helium and antihydrogen experiments are being done at CERN in Switzerland, in a collaboration known as ASACUSA.

The (so-called deeply-bound) pionic-atom spectroscopy was initiated at GSI in Germany. Higher-precision work is now being prepared at the newly-completed RIBF, in Japan.

Kaonic-atom experiments will be done at J-PARC in Japan, and at DAΦNE e+e- collider in Italy.